


Another Day, Another Time

by nintendohime



Category: Final Fantasy IV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 05:24:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12162405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nintendohime/pseuds/nintendohime
Summary: Queen Akari knew her time was drawing to a close under Lugae's capture. The Wyvern of Eblan would never fly again.





	Another Day, Another Time

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Trigger Warning for the beginnings of non-con, as well as depictions of medical subjugating/violence.

She hadn't remembered much in the past day or two; it was that certain time which brought her back to consciousness. Oracles and couriers around the Blue Planet had spoken warily of impending war, of Mysidia, Damcyan, and Fabul being annihilated in what seemed to be a fell swoop. One moment, the fair queen was directing her soldiers to organize parties to help render aid, while the next resulted in the ceiling of the castle falling down, and her eyes drowning into a pit of darkness. She recalled the screams of everyone around her, of someone touching her arm before her memory faded.

 

_It was another day, but not in that certain time._

 

With a low-pitched cry, her beautiful emerald eyes opened, but to a wince: the cool coating of a gelatinous substance made everything hazy to her sight, despite being able to recognize the gray-granite cover of a ceiling, and bright, yet grimy, lights that shone eerily upon her face like a sacrifice to the Lunarian god, Bahamut.

 

“Where... Am I?”

 

The groggy queen of Eblan, Akari, wasn't able to feel a thing, let alone look further at her surroundings. Had she been able to, the bindings of tarnished leather kept her strapped to a dirty, blood-soaked table, pitted in the middle of an equally filthy room. Various machines beeped, booped,  _screeched_ ; all of which she was able to hear perfectly fine, but left her reeling with a certain dread that spoke in harrowed whispers to  _escape, move, get out now_.

 

_Her wyvern wings wouldn't move; not this time._

 

“Oho! You're awake, Akari."

 

The queen felt her heart plummet as though dropped off the cliffs of Babel; where had she heard those mean tones before? She struggled to open her eyes further, hoped that the gooey substance covering them would magically drop before her captor in a hastened cure, but to no avail.

 

“Unable to speak? Serpent got your tongue?” A callous laugh emanated from the unknown origin. Hobbled footsteps and the brusque tapping of a bronze-tipped cane brought the masculine voice closer to her bedside. “Not so mighty in all your glory are you, my queen?”

 

What looked like a hand was raised over the monarch's face, a thumb raking across her eyes to remove the icy gel. A visage covered in wrinkles and frizzy, gray-white hair soon loomed over Queen Akari, a grin revealing metal teeth that clashed in the light.

 

“There; that's better, isn't it?”

 

A pair of hands adjusted the monarch's neck so that she was looking to the side, face to face with her captor. Emerald eyes took the opportunity to take in the limited view: a makeshift intravenous line dripped a disgusting liquid of pure yellow into her shoulder. Blood splatters could be seen on the wall closest to her head, a set of crimson-stained scalpels and scissors resting on a cart nearby the table. Each medical utensil was soaked in skin, wrapped tightly around sharp blades. It was a sickening sight, one that put Akari at unease. 

 

“Sorry about the uncomfortable quarters unfit for you, my queen. You see, my master promised me a royal specimen in which to experiment on. No doubt you've heard of King and Queen Damcyan's unexpected demises in the fortnight's attack, let alone King Fabul's grave injuries. I can't reanimate the dead, and a hurt specimen is more than useless to me; my master should have finished him and the rest of those useless Fabulian monks off!”

 

The queen narrowed her eyes as the madman let loose another cackle before turning towards the bag of flowing fluid. Yes, _that day;_  she remembered hearing news of Damcyan's fall and Fabul's losses; in fact, she and the King of Eblan –

 

_The King of Eblan!_

 

“Where is my husband, King Akio? Is... Is he safe?”

 

The crazed man turned back towards the queen with a nonchalant look. Beady brown eyes – which were now shielded by a pair of goggles – seemed to hold more than an innocent expression. “He's currently in recovery with the rest of your pathetic soldiers, of whom I had the extreme pleasure of assimilating into robotic guards for the parameters of Babel. The surgery was a success, if I do say so myself. I never thought I would put that wasted Moon dragon to good use!”

 

“Assimilation...?  _S... Surgery?!_ ” The queen attempted to shake free of her bindings, despite her stone-like stature. “Take me to him! Take me to him now, you...  _You_  –!”

 

“Don't even think about trying to escape, your majesty!” the man hissed, cupping a hand on her lower jaw to wrench her head back upwards. “I thought you could be a good queen, a shining example among all of my other stupid subjects that balked, or tried to get away. It seems that my prognosis was wrong. Time for a new diagnosis.

 

I wonder what makes you tick, Akari. Is it the fear of having your wyvern wings clipped, or another dream of your own making?”

 

The monarch's eyes looked up in horror, dismissing the fact that her captor knew an unreasonably large amount of her history as a kunoichi. The white-haired man had pulled a silver syringe with a large-gauge needle seemingly out of nowhere, the barrel covered in bits of blood, hair, and skin, as though someone had fought to not receive their inoculation. It, too, seemed to be filled with the putrid fluid from the bag line, mixed cruelly with a matter of blood and fear.

 

“This toxin is currently running through your head, but it can't go fast enough!” he growled, raising the tool high. “Through your eye it is. Keep them open, before I keep them open for you!”

 

“Now, now, Doctor. No need to be so hasty in your work.”

 

Different footsteps approached them, ones shrouded in heavy metal and dark, fearful whispers. A look up revealed what appeared to be another masculine figure, clad in onyx. Unlike the madman, the Eblanese queen couldn't see his face; the depths of his helmet blanketed whatever detail he might have had, save for a voice as cold as the armor he wore.

 

“This is the queen Akari, Doctor Lugae?” the armored voice queried, wrapping both arms to his chest as though uncertain what maneuver to take next. “I fail to see why the royalty of Eblan – or any royalty, for that matter – is of utmost importance to you.”

 

“Not  _all_  royalty is important, Master Golbez!” the doctor spat back, lowering the uninitialized syringe. “You saw what I did to the King Harvey of Baron first, yes? You were there when I kidnapped Cagnazzo's, Rubicante's, Barbariccia's, and Scarmiglione's hosts, infused them with elemental powers beyond any recognition --”

 

“Your achievements certainly outweigh the blabber of your tongue,” Golbez muttered, turning his attention back towards the ninja queen a moment. Her eyes were still wide, but in a mask of utmost horror as she listened on to the conversation. “Certainly you didn't fill in our guest of the details for which she involuntarily agreed to?”

 

“Leave the preparations to me, Master Golbez.” Lugae snorted, turning his darkened gaze once more to the intravenous line. “The replacement toxin here is almost finished. I have the body of a wyvern picked out for our silver-haired, Eblanese beauty here – it's almost fitting, seeing as how her prowess once flowed in the air, free as the mythical monster itself.”

 

“I'm uncertain how you've studied your subject, but I warn you: this is the last chance for you and the chimera experiments, good doctor,” Golbez remarked, turning away with a heavy step. “My master isn't too terribly pleased with you so far. If the ninja royalty fall, and Rubicante should happen to go thereafter --”

 

“I'll infuse them myself!” Doctor Lugae cut in, snarling. “Gas them up, put them to sleep, assimilate every last one of their particles, starting with their son, the ninja prince Edward Geraldine!”

 

Lugae's words might have fallen on Golbez's deaf ears, but such was heard loud and clear by the Eblanese queen. Akari attempted to close her eyes, to focus on the powers that had once made her a proud kunoichi worthy of the Wyvern nickname, flying magnificently through the sky. If only she could find that magnificence, hold onto that fleeting happiness that had tightly bound her to the king and prince, perhaps she could warn her son of what might inevitably await him.

 

When the queen opened her eyes, all that reflected within pools of green was an unstoppable tool of filth, and the last sightings of a madman's wide, villainous smile.

 

“Sorry, but not even Master Golbez goes against me,” the doctor gloated, finding a certain pleasure in the woman's shrieks of pain, a grin of glee rising to his lips as – though on cue – the numbing of her body expired, allowing her to feel stabbing sensations where he had forcefully plugged hypodermic needles, and cut teasingly into her flesh. Blood from the needle's strong assault had splattered everywhere, as was to be expected, stabbing soggy flesh before releasing the barrel of burning liquid within. “You'll make a fine chimera, your majesty.

 

“Did you want to beg for mercy now?” Lugae's expression had changed, wholly feigning an innocent look. He was certain the queen couldn't hear him over her incessant screams. “I can ease your pain and suffering before I cut into you again, make you not feel a thing.” A hand found its way to her chest, filthy fingernails stroking her breastbone in a soothing manner. The way the royal thrashed about, threatened to bite him in her agonizing pain, made him release a deep, high-pitched laugh, one that could be heard all throughout Babel. His subjects – hoards of chimeras, from mythical parts to humanoid remnants – could easily hear him, joining in the wretched laughter like blades to the slaughter.

 

“Would you like to play, dear queen?” The fingernails dragged down further, coming to rest on the crest of her bloodied abdomen where he had cut into earlier. “How humiliating it must be for Eblan's mighty ninja to come to this: their queen brutally assaulted by the great Doctor Lugae!”

 

The queen's screams weren't close to dwindling; she had heard the damned doctor, and was more than repulsed at his touch. In that moment – the sounds of a button unclasping, of a shirt being ripped off – she had remembered a grizzly old man who had come to Eblan. The great doctor was a genius with ambition, one to turn the ancient plight of Babel's machinery into working fixtures once again. The king had refused that day – much like she was refusing now, trying to get away from the insane madman's touch, but only to be slapped in the face, further agitating her pain – and the man left without fuss. 

 

_Whatever happened to that man, and the rest of the world; left in darkness to never see the light of another day?_

 

“I see; it's almost time,” Lugae mumbled after a moment, the buttons on his stained trousers hooking back to a close, though with a pout. A green light had dawned upon his visage, signifying the end of his previous patient's recovery period. Without a second thought, he moved to bring a gurney over, unstrapping the writhing royal, her lines, and placing her within, but not without bounding her tightly to the new bed; he needn't have her running away like King Akio did.

 

“How unfortunate that your son had disappeared with the bombing of Eblan. He, too, would have made a fine chimera against that imbecile, Cecil,” Lugae lamented, pushing the gurney towards the room's exit. “No matter; Rubicante will take care of him.”

 

_Edge_. Akari forced herself to think of her son, think of her husband as the gurney wheels intermixed with her excruciating pains of needles and cuts, resonating around and around again.  _Edge, no matter what happens, forgive me._

 

“Barnabas, are we ready?” Lugae had rolled the gurney into the space that served as his operating area. Another bright light shone on the queen, sealing the fate of her demise. “Gas the victim to sleep? No, I want her to feel every little thing! ... Fine. You win.”

 

As a mask clamped to Akari's face, the sounds of a blade beginning to whir in the background, her remaining eye sheathed, memories of Eblan passing at an alarming rate: the king laughed as he hoisted their only son – the heir to the kingdom – upon his shoulder, another arm wrapping about his queen as the sun set over the castle, the light of fire reflecting within their eyes as the day drew to a close. The great sun would rise again for another day.

 

_Another day, another time._


End file.
